Review - The Nature of the SelfRecognition in the Form of Right and Moralityby Paul CobbenWalter de Gruyter, 2009Review by Gustav Jahoda, Ph.D.Aug 17th 2010 (Volume 14, Issue 33)

The author, a Dutch philosopher, is an authority on Hegel. In the 19th century Hegelian philosophy was extremely influential and its impact was felt beyond Germany and beyond philosophy in such spheres as politics (including of course Marx) and Protestant theology. But as Bertrand Russell noted, his doctrines are 'hardest to understand of all the great philosophers'. Hence this book should have a health warning: unless you are a philosopher, don't try tackling it; and don't be misled by the title, since it deals critically with Hegel's ideas about the self; even the sub-title contains a trap, since 'recognition' is here a technical term.

Although I am not altogether a stranger to philosophy, it would be presumptuous of me to try to offer a critique of Cobben's interpretations of Hegel's philosophy – only a specialist could do that. There is, however, a fundamental claim made by the author that is open to challenge. On the first page of the introduction he states that the phrase 'nature of the self' is ambiguous since 'it can concern a nature that is opposed to culture, or a nature that expresses an essence that transcends variations in time, i.e. a logical nature.' The former he contends, is the subject of what he oddly calls the 'gene theory' of the human self, since the author is under the strange illusion that any scientific approach to the self is concerned with specific human genes ! Generally he denies that a scientific approach can contribute anything to our understanding of the self. By contrast 'the philosophical conception of the nature of the self has to solve the mind/body problem', and it is suggested that Hegel has solved it logically.

When one looks for the solution one is told by Hegel that the unity of mind and body cannot be found at the level of the individual but only as part of the 'social organism', an institutionalized collective. The character of that self is said to depend on the historical context, so that first social self is found in antiquity, the second in the Middle Ages and the third from the French Revolution onwards. So one might ask: what constitutes the 'essence' that transcends time? One could raise lots of similar questions, which would probably be dismissed as naïve by Cobben because the questioners have failed to understand or accept Hegelian categories.

It is of course necessary to distinguish between the author's presentation of Hegel's doctrine, which may well be excellent, and his belief in the validity of that doctrine which is, to say the least, surprising. It is a pity that he seems to lack any awareness of the now substantial body of relevant research in psychology and neuropsychology when making his introductory remarks.

Gustav Jahoda, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. His main fields of interest are cross-cultural and social psychology, especially the development of social cognition. He is the author of A History of Social Psychology (Cambridge University Press).

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